All family matters
by Miss Barbara
Summary: Someone from Tony's past comes to visit him. Written for the family matters challenge on NFA
1. Chapter 1

Told you so  
Characters: Anthony DiNozzo, OMC  
Rating: F7  
Pairings: none  
Genre: general/ humor  
Spoilers: none  
Thanks to: Jo for the Challenge and Liz for the beta

Written for the family matters challenge on NFA. I used some of my writer's freedom., I don't think that tours at NCIS are a possibility, but otherwise I couldn't come up with a story.

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The NCIS budget had been tight the last couple of years; there was money for pay and equipment and such, but there hadn't been a Christmas party in years. And this year that was going to change. A few people had decided, together with Vance, that they could give tours.

They would charge people a few dollars, and an NCIS employee would give them a tour through the building, showing them the cantine, a look in the intel department and a chance to talk to some agents.

Much to their surprise, a lot of people had signed up for the tour. They were mostly Marines with their families, but there were also some complete outsiders. A variety of people: from business people to giant nerds (who loved the sub-basement).

Looking in autopsy was optional. Ducky was always open for visitors, but very few people went to look at it. Abby's lab was a different story. Every one liked to take a look but were very surprised by the goth bouncing around, listening to heavy music.

The last part of the tour was always the bullpen, where people could talk to the agents for a few minutes. Usually people asked if they ever had to shoot someone or what they hated the most about the job.

When seeing a tour group arrive, Gibbs always disappeared somehow. Tony, on the other hand, liked the attention. He sat on the edge of his desk and told tons of stories, and it wouldn't be the first time that he exaggerated something. With passion, he told about the interrogations he had performed and the people he had saved. When there was a hot girl in the crowd, he always told a sad story and pretended to be tearing up afterwards. He always scored a few phone numbers.

This day it was Tim's turn to guide the group of people. He told some facts about the agency before checking them into the building and making sure that no one was carrying a weapon or a photocamera. No more than 5 people were allowed at a time.

Today was a group of 5 MIT students, all of them would love a job at NCIS cybercrimes, so decided that tour was an great oppurtonity to check out NCIS and what the actuall did.

The biggest nerd of all had to be Steve, He was wearing a worn grey MIT shirt with lots of little holes everywhere. On the left side was a big brown stain; Tim hoped that it was coffee. His glasses were taped with duct tape and his hair was greasy.

McGee rushed them through the evidence garage, the lab and autopsy before leading them to the holy grail of nerdyness: cyber crimes. Steve, the big nerd, almost interrogated every member, asking them about their equipment, what they liked about their job and what he could expect if he would were to work there.

The tour was limited to a two hour event, and after one and a half hours McGee dragged them out of cyber crimes. The bullpen was the last the stop of the day. McGee was waiting to get back to work - being the tour guide was not his favorite thing, but every one chipped in, and he didn't want to be known as a complainer.

In the elevator, he told them about the squadroom and that they had a few minutes to talk to the agents. Tony was of course already sitting on his desk, being the center of attention, but when he saw the group of people he ducked under his desk. But apparently it was already too late.

"Anthony!" Steve yelled, walking over to his desk. He pulled Tony out from under his desk and into a hug. "It is so good to see you!" he continued excitedly, "Mom's been asking about you - are you coming to visit this year?" His head was moving so fast that his glasses slid down his nose and he kept pushing them up with his left thumb.

McGee had the task of keeping track of the boys, so Ziva knew it was up to her to explore this strange encounter. She walked over to Tony and Steve and introduced herself.

"Hello, you must be Steve," she said with a smile. "I am Ziva, nice to meet you."

Stunned that such a beauty would take any sort of interest in him, Steve shook her hand and failed to talk until Tony slapped him on the back of his head. "React!" he whispered, a little too loudly.

"Oh, uhh.... Hi Ziva" he stammered.

Ziva, who was used to this kind of behavior, neglected it. "So, tell me about yourself. How do you know Tony?" she asked, while she smiled at him. She decided not to pay any attention to the foul looks Tony was giving her.

"Tony hasn't told you about me?" he said as his face fell a little. "Well, I guess that how it goes at work - you don't tell people about your private things." He swallowed as he put his smile back up. "Tony's mother and my mother are siblings. When things were a little rough at his house he would come over to ours. I can't tell you about all the times we played games on our computers. I might have been a geek, but he was about to become one."

"A geek? Really?" Ziva asked while flirting with him.

Steve, who wasn't used to be flirted with started to blush and walked away. "It was great seeing you, Tony, but Agent McGee is calling so I have to go," he said, glad that he had an excuse to go.

Tony, who felt bad, ran after him. "Steve, wait!" he said as he grabbed his arm. "I'll return him later," he said to McGee while dragging Steve in the opposite direction. Guiding him intoan empty conference room, he put him down in a chair.

"Look, there is something you need to understand," he said while sitting down in a chair, next to Steve's. "You were my best friend at that time. I loved being with you, Aunt Grace and Uncle Mark. But I didn't like the reason why I was there."

Tony looked at Steve to make sure that he meant what he was saying. "I am really sorry if I have offended you in some way- that was really not what I wanted to do. I love you, man!" Tony exclaimed, turning slowly back into his usual attitude.

An uncertain smile broke through Steve's face. "You do?" he asked.

"Of course!" Tony said. "I still have the G.I. Joe dolls you gave me," he confessed. "They stand next to my football trophies." Seeing the smile return on Steve's face he made a decision. "You know what? Stay in DC for a few days. I have the day after tomorrow off, we can hang out, do cool things, catch up, you know?"

"Sounds awesome!" Steve stood up and pulled Tony into another hug. "You know what? I'll book a hotel and go buy some clothes. I was planning on going back tomorrow, so I didn't bring many things...".

"Don't bother with a hotel!" Tony cut him off. "You can sleep at my place; I have plenty of space, and it will be way more fun."

Tony's ringtone cut him off. When he pulled the phone out of his pocket he noticed that it was Gibbs calling him.

"Let's go." he said as he pushed Gibbs' call away. "Time for my co-workers to meet you."


	2. Chapter 2

did something weird to my first chapter, so I added the missing bit. Go back and read those little vital pieces of information ;)

Later that night Tony looked at the mattress on the ground where Steve was asleep. Only some people knew that his childhood had been really bad. His mother had died when he was ten years old. His father became even more distant and didn't even bother to raise him anymore. He only spoke to his father when he had d one something really bad. It usually involved a rough spanking. In the end he did horrible things on purpose, just so his father would speak to him.

After a year somehow his mothers sister came to visit. He had heard about aunt Grace and Uncle Mark before, but he had never ever met them. They had a discussion with his father and when they came out of his fathers office she told him that he would live with them for a while.

He didn't question it, he just went upstairs to pack his bag and after having said goodbye to his father, who didn't respond, he was on his way to meet his new family.

Much to his surprise they lived in a small house in a nearby town. And when he opened the door he was greeted by 2 boys, a girl and a very happy puppy.

He had played talked and acted like a real kid. He was having the childhood he'd been missing for years. He got dirty, broke a window and felt sorry and on occasion he snuggled close to aunt Grace on the couch. There was no need to say that he was really happy.

But on a horrible day Uncle Mark came to tell that his holiday was nearly over and he had to return to his father. He had clamped himself to his uncles shirt, crying and begging. He would do anything just so he could stay. He didn't know that it had broke the hearts of his aunt and uncle to send him back.

After that vacation he would go to his surrogate family as much as he could. It was his change of being a real boy.

Steve had become his best friend, his brother. They had been hard to sepparate, but suddenly his father had send him to the military accademy. He had written letters to Aunt Grace and she had written him back. But after a few years it was down to a few cards a year.

They had been there in stead of his father when he became an offical cop, but he had never seen them after wards, and he felt ashamed. But he had convinced himself that it was for the best. With job there was always the possiblity he would die in the line of duty and he didn't want to put his family trough that.

But sitting there, almost 1 AM he knew that is was crap. He was afraid to love the people that had loved him, his image had became more importuned to him than he family. With a sigh he came out of his bed and walked to the living.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number he knew by heart.

"Aunt Grace? It's Tony..."


End file.
